Device for Tomato Pollination in a Greenhouse

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to: 1) create a device for tomato pollination in a greenhouse, 2) investigate the efficiency of a device designed for tomato pollination in a greenhouse, and 3) find users' satisfaction after using a device designed for tomato pollination in a greenhouse. The experiment were carried out by creating a device designed for tomato pollination to determine its effectiveness in various aspects: 1) Determination of optimal frequencies of speaker vibrations at different levels for improving tomato pollination in greenhouses. 2) Find a suitable height to install the vibrator to the tomato plant. 3) Find an appropriate dis-tance to install a vibrating unit that affects the vibrating of tomato plants at a frequency of 10 Hz. 4) Compare the yield of tomatoes. During 6-month experiment, the tomato stems were shaken by hand and the artificial pollinator of 15 artificial tomato plants per plot. Data analysis was conducted through descriptive statistics including mean, percentage, and standard deviation. Research instruments for data collection were: 1) the device construction record, 2) the instrument performance experimental record, and 3) the questionnaire. The sample group of 50 people were selected by purposive sampling technique. The experimental period was from October 2020-March 2021 at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Satun Technical College. The results of the study revealed that: 1) the frequency at different levels presented different effectiveness. The vibration of the speaker yielding the best results for the tomato plant was at the frequency of 10Hz., 2) the optimal height for the installation of the vibrator on the tomato plant to help pollinate tomato plants in a greenhouse was at 60 cm., 3) the distance of the speaker installation giving the most effeciciency with cost effective was at 2 m., 4) the tomato stem vibration with the developed device yielded better results than using manually shaking, and 5) the users' satisfaction on the device for tomato pollination was at the average of 4.37.